LOL. With this ridiculous contract, the Cubs just guanranteed themselves of another 8 years of suckititude.
Call the contract what you like....really doesnt matter. They have the money and they spent it on a guy who will help them immensely. Will he help them to the tune of 136 million? Dont know....and again, it doesnt matter. A Rod has never and will never live up to a 250 million doillar contract but there isnt a team out there right now that wouldnt kill to have him in the middle of their lineup. What some of you are missing is that while it may seem stupid to spend all that money...it not....not as long as there is no salary cap. You know why? Its because if Sori sucks after year 3...or gets injured...or cant play defense a lick....they will go sign someone else. Thats how baseball works for the wealthy teams.
I think more of the point is that, for that contract, he does not make them a better team. They have not addressed the gigantic gap in starting pitching or in the bullpen. So, they become the Rangers...big deal. That doesn't make them a better team. It would have actually been smarter to overpay for Zito or Schmidt, IMO
My only argument is that Soriano is not on the level of the other players who have been paid this much. He's a product of having his amazing contract drive season in a year where its a pretty weak free agent class. (and hence, the market is spiraling out of control, when Alfonso Soriano becomes the 5th highest paid player EVER). The guy strikes out way too much, couldn't get on base at a Willy Taveras rate before last year, has defensive issues, and hasn't "helped a team immensely" yet, like he'll apparently do for the Cubs. Even if "that's how baseball works", that still doesn't mean its a good decision... I know Houston fans get a little $$$-envy when they see big contracts being thrown around, and they get annoyed when Drayton sticks to a budget, but more often than not, these other teams have "win-envy" of teams like St. Louis and Houston (teams witha budget), and they're simply overcompensating.
You dont see how he makes them better? Would he have made us better? Keep in mind that our starting pitching is no better than their right now. We have one ace and 4 question marks. He certainly makes them better. Does he improive their pitching? Obviously not...but he makes them better. He doesnt need to be on the level of other players who have received that much....although, find me 3 or 4 other 45/40 guys who were amopngst tops in OF assists. Not easy. It IS a good decision when you can always make up for it by spending more money. Yes it would have made more sense to sign Zito and Schmidt and stuck it out with Pierre in CF...but it was nothing for them being one of the wealthier franchises to go out and sign the prize of the free agent market...even if they overpaid by 2-3 million per year.
Soriano for 17 mil/year for 8 years? If i were Drayton, I'd pay Soriano a couple mil JUST to take that contract with the Cubs. Carlos Lee is worth more than that and we can get him for less. Soriano pluses: home runs, RBIs, steals Soriano minuses: strikeouts, defense, OBP, BA and at 30 years old, he won't be able to earn his contract for the next 8 years.
agree completely. as i said, he helps. but he also eats into their budget to go add starting pitching...which they need more than a strikeout prone power hitter playing out of position.
what budget?.....thats the point....they have no budget in Chicago....thats what makes it a good signing for them.
Are you honestly using that statistic as a measure of defensive success? Craig Biggio was a leader in OF assists one of the years he played out there... that says it all. We've already explained how players attempting to take the extra base on weak OF'ers like Soriano and Biggio will inflate their assist numbers. So basically, there are no bad decisions because they can always spend more... that's REALLY flawed logic. Teams can spend, spend, and spend... but each decision they make can be evaluated separately. I feeld that giving a 31 year old "outfielder" with his career OBP and OPS that big of a deal was a BAD decision by the Cubs... whereas them signing Derek Lee three years ago (and extending him) was a GOOD decision (before he turned into the MVP candidate he is now). Sure, big spending teams can OVERCOME bad decisions... that still doesn't magically make them "good" decisions.
The Cubs have always cried budget... in fact, more-so than the Astros cried budget (keep in mind they've always had HUGE revenues). There is talk that they're attempting to make the franchise attractive to a possible buyer (the Tribune company is in financial trouble).
you and i both know that it's very unlikely they go throw the kind of money it will take to get schmidt or zito now that they've committed to soriano. these aren't they yankees...they're the cubs.
Just to add more fuel to those who think Soriano is "worth it"... Career OBP: .325 Career OPS: .835 The guy could be a DECENT defensive outfielder, who didn't strikeout at a Preston Wilson-like rate, and I STILL don't think he'd be worth $18 million a year for a 31 year old (who will be pushing 40 at the end of his contract).
what do you mean he doesn't need to be on the level of the other players? what are you paying 17 mil/year for then?
I'm not saying that there are no bad decisions....what I meant was that if you can spend to your hearts delight (which is the problem), then its hard to say anything is a bad decision. Are you saying that if we could sign Soriano and if we were able to pay him 120-140 million bucks, and not have to worry about salary repurcussions this year or 5 -7 yrs down the road, that you would take this guy at any price?
but what does affordable mean? i'm not trying to argue just to argue. if affordable means you can sign him, but that you're not gonna go out on the market and get starting pitching help, then it's not really affordable in the sense we're talking about. just because the check clears doesn't mean there aren't other costs...opportunity costs.
Thats a fantasy-world that only the Yankees live in... and even THEY have some restraint when it comes to offering huge deals to players who aren't worth it. (otherwise why didn't they go after Soriano?) And there are ALWAYS repercussions to a player not living up to his deal... no matter how big-money the team is.
ur right....that would make for a bad "baseball" decision...which I htink it was given that they could re-sign Pierre for a lot less and go sign a pitcher or 2...and given the Cubs lack of playoff appearances, they make many of tyhose types of bad decisions. but as far as being a frivalous money spending decision, its tough to say that they made one if they have the money to go out and get whatever else it si that they need.
for the player....yes for the team....not as much. If Soriano sucks, Wrigley field will still sell out every single game and WGN will still pay them a boatload of cash to televise their games. Other than local beat writers and radio hosts heckling the GM, they wont suffer much. The way they might suffer is that if future FA's see that the team dopesnt spend wisely and will never compete, then maybe it will affect their decision...but if they are still able to throw tons of money at these guys, then it wont matter much
The bottom line right now for the Cubs is WINNING... they could sell out Wrigley Field by trotting out minor leaguers... they've never been in the position to have to buy players to drum up interest (which is why they used to not spend big money on anybody in the early 90's). If the Cubs truly can absorb his contract, AND go out and continue to get starting pitchers, relievers, and whatever other needs they have (which are plenty), then of course they'll be fine in the long-run.... I just don't see that happening. The Astros or Cardinals will NEVER be in the position to throw around $18million dollars on a player that is not a sure-fire HOFer/Perennial MVP candidate.
